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Monday, May 15, 2017

If you like
cooking with seitan, and if you like a well-seasoned sauce with a pop of smoke
and spice, you will no doubt enjoy the “Seitan with Ancho-Chipotle Sauce” (page
310) as much as I did. Making seitan from scratch is super easy, and there are
an abundance of recipes available if you want to try, including from this book
(see my review here).
You can also purchase seitan in most well stocked groceries and natural foods
stores if you are so inclined. Either way, once the seitan is ready, the rest
of the work is in the sauce, which consists of onion, carrot, garlic, fire-roasted
tomatoes, and three dried chilies (ancho and chipotle). I substituted 1
tablespoon of chipotle powder for the chile, since I didn’t have one on hand, with
no problem. The sauce is simmered for nearly an hour to thicken it up, and then
everything is blended smooth in a blender.

Slices of
seitan are dipped in seasoned cornmeal and, according to the recipe, should be
pan-fried in 2 tablespoons of oil. Your options for reducing or eliminating the
oil include baking the seitan on a parchment paper lined pan in a moderate oven
for 30-minutes, turning halfway through; or, using a very fine mist of spray
oil in your skillet; or, using a very high quality nonstick skillet without any
oil (this will tend to stick to any but the best of non-stick cookware).
Whichever method you choose, you can get by with much less than 2 tablespoons
of oil, if not eliminating it altogether.

The final step
is topping the browned seitan with the warmed sauce. With the very first bite, I
think you will agree, the flavors are indescribably satisfying and delicious!

Keeping it
“McDougall Friendly” checklist:

Omit the oil
when sautéing the vegetables; used a nonstick skillet with a little water,
sherry, or broth instead.

Instead of
pan-frying the seitan in 2-tablespoons of oil, you can bake it on a parchment
paper lined pan in a moderate oven for 30-minutes, turning halfway through; or,
use a very fine mist of spray oil in your skillet; or, use a very high quality
nonstick skillet without any oil (seitan will tend to stick to any but the best
of non-stick cookware).